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Planning for Jaipur City in Rajasthan, north-western India, which was added to the World Heritage List in 2019, considers the surrounding hills and water systems. Rapid urbanisation is currently placing strain on the area, and natural resources and city green spaces are deteriorating. A multidisciplinary team of academicians, researchers and practitioners was assembled under the Heritage Place Lab (HPL) initiative with the aim of developing a research agenda to complement the city's Special Area Heritage Plan (SAHP) that is currently in development.

Given the complicated urban structure of Jaipur, an interdisciplinary approach involving experts from various fields and engagement from all levels of the city's stakeholders was necessary. The partnership proceeded following the parameters provided under the HPL to jointly build a research agenda focussing on the management challenges of the World Heritage Site.

The co-produced research programme narrowed its initial emphasis on documenting of the natural heritage of the city to reflect the functions it served in a social setting. It was also revealed that the conflicting nature of activities within the World Heritage Site is caused by overlapping jurisdictions of several administrative and legislative components.

Jaipur, examined here by an interdisciplinary Research-Practice Team, provides a valuable and unique case study for heritage management, particularly given that most historic cities in India are facing comparable concerns surrounding urbanisation with rising pressures on natural resources.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO Landscapes and World Heritage sites have faced unstable situations. Both at the sites themselves and in the research centres, universities and even the homes of the people involved, they have acted and responded to the best of their ability. In this context, the aim of the comparative analysis of different cases carried out here is to understand the main effects of the pandemic in the short term. On the one hand, the purpose is to determine what the general response trends have been and, on the other, to measure the resilience capacity in each case.

Up to eight cases studies representing different and diverse kinds of Heritage and Protected Natural sites from Southern Europe and America are compared.

In a context of uncertainty, new responses, unique opportunities and hitherto unseen weaknesses have arisen in research and management of natural and cultural heritage. In general terms, the dialogue between officials, technicians and researchers that have put together this article underlines the need to work towards a governance model that engages everyone in dialogue. Discrepancies between overlapping strategies and plans, which is the main conflict detected, should be avoided while a decentralisation of policies could be more operational. In this sense, situated knowledge may be of help in configuring practical management tools.

This paper compares and contrasts for first time the effects of the pandemic in Europe and Latin America. This exercise has provided a valuable diagnostic for present and future heritage management.

Climate change is occurring around us and impacting on our daily lives, meaning that we have to deal with our cities in a different way. There is also increasing awareness of the need for daily contact with green spaces and the natural environment in order to live a happy, productive and meaningful life.

This reflective essay tells the narrative of how urbanisation has been disconnecting humans from nature. Non-sustainable, non-resilient patterns of urbanisation, along with the neglect of inner-city areas, have resulted in fragmentation and urban decline, led to a loss of biodiversity, and caused the deterioration of ecosystems and their services. Urban regeneration projects allow us to “repair” and restore some of this damage whilst enhancing urban resilience. Connecting existing and enhanced ecosystems, and re-establishing ecosystems both within cities and at the peri-urban fringe is vital for strengthening ecosystem resilience and building adaptive capacity for coping with the effects of climate change.

Cities worldwide need to look for suitable solutions to increase the resilience of their urban spaces in the face of climate change. This essay explores how this can be achieved through the integration of nature-based solutions, the re-greening of neighbourhoods and by correctly attributing value to natural capital. Transforming existing cities and neighbourhoods in this way will enable ecosystems to contribute their services towards healthier and more liveable cities.

In this chapter, the author explores and discusses the transformation of management from the perspective of complex systems, systems change and the Taoist yin-yang theory. Modern complex organizations require innovative management practices that move beyond traditional approaches. Consequently, many organizations are experiencing a management shift towards more holistic and sustainable methods. This shift encompasses changes in organizational structures and modes of inquiry. Organizations are transitioning from rigid hierarchies to more collaborative and agile configurations while adopting a systemic approach to management that acknowledges the interconnectedness and interdependence of all organizational aspects. Simultaneously, there is a paradigm shift in management thinking, replacing the conventional focus on ego-action with eco-action, which emphasizes the integration of diverse perspectives and the cultivation of self-awareness and introspection. This shift in mindset is embodied in the yin-yang paradigm, highlighting the importance of balance and harmony between contrasting forces.

The purpose of this study is to understand the behavior of hybrid bio-composites under varied applications.

Fabrication methods and material characterization of various hybrid bio-composites are analyzed by studying the tensile, impact, flexural and hardness of the same. The natural fiber is a manufactured group of assembly of big or short bundles of fiber to produce one or more layers of flat sheets. The natural fiber-reinforced composite materials offer a wide range of properties that are suitable for many engineering-related fields like aerospace, automotive areas. The main characteristics of natural fiber composites are durability, low cost, low weight, high specific strength and equally good mechanical properties.

The tensile properties like tensile strength and tensile modulus of flax/hemp/sisal/Coir/Palmyra fiber-reinforced composites are majorly dependent on the chemical treatment and catalyst usage with fiber. The flexural properties of flax/hemp/sisal/coir/Palmyra are greatly dependent on fiber orientation and fiber length. Impact properties of flax/hemp/sisal/coir/Palmyra are depended on the fiber content, composition and orientation of various fibers.

This study is a review of various research work done on the natural fiber bio-composites exhibiting the factors to be considered for specific load conditions.

Religion and philosophy satisfy the basic human needs of understanding, belonging, and finding meaning. They provide tranquility of mind and satisfy the desire to be loved and lovable. However, they present their own failings and can counter each other in positive and negative ways, that threaten the communities of beliefs they form and their interactions. An appropriate institutional framework can control the fanaticism and sectarianism that can come with established religion and philosophy.

This study aims to examine how veganism is “seen” by young adult non-vegan consumers and how prevailing attitudes reinforce or challenge stigmas around veganism.

Photovoice methodology was used to explore young non-vegan consumers’ attitudes and beliefs towards veganism. Data was collected from students studying advertising at a major university in Australia, who produced images and narratives reflective of their own attitudes towards veganism. Polytextual thematic analysis of the resulting visual data was then undertaken to reveal the dominant themes underpinning participants’ attitudes. Participant narratives were then reviewed to confirm whether the ascribed meaning aligned with participants’ intended meaning.

Participant images were reflective of first, how they saw their world and their place within it, which showed the interplay and interconnectedness between humans, animals and nature, and second, how they saw vegans within this world, with both positive and negative attitudes expressed. Interestingly, vegans were simultaneously admired and condemned. By situating these attitudes along a spectrum of moral evaluation, bounded by stigmatisation and moral legitimacy, participants saw vegans as being either Radicals, Pretenders, Virtuous or Pragmatists. For veganism to become more widely accepted by non-vegans, there is an important role to be played by each vegan type.

This study offers a more nuanced understanding of how and why dissociative groups, such as vegans, become stigmatised, which has implications for messaging and marketing practices around veganism and associated products/services. Future research could use a similar methodology to understand why other minority groups in society are stereotyped and stigmatised, which has broader social implications.

This paper discusses how the Heritage Place Lab (HPL) Pilot Phase, led by International Centre for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2021–2022), supported La Antigua Guatemala (LAG) World Heritage Site as a case study to identify research gaps to strengthen HPL's management through a collaborative process between research and practice teams.

A qualitative method was adopted that followed the collaborative process proposed for the HPL Pilot Phase. An adapted version of the Enhancing Our Heritage (EoH) Toolkit 2.0 (forthcoming) was applied. The HPL served as an incubator for on-going research projects, with LAG acting as one of eight case studies.

To achieve sustainable development at the site, strengthening the governance model is a priority. This should focus on adopting a more comprehensive management approach that includes the surrounding areas and new values that have been identified since the approach's inscription in 1979 as well as addressing the impacts of climate change.

The study finds that this task is essential to widely disseminate and follow up the findings made between researchers and site managers as well as to propose a new governance model alongside associated changes in conservation and municipal and national legislation. Therefore, long-term political support and commitment from institutions, authorities and stakeholders involved in the management and conservation of LAG will be essential.

All sectors and institutions in the local community should be involved in the conservation and development of LAG and its surrounding areas. Local communities should benefit from a more effective and inclusive model of governance that recognises and enhances the communities' values as part of communities' identity and quality of life. Climate change mitigation and risk-prevention programmes should also be put in place.

To date, research in LAG has been disparate and has not responded to LAG's management needs that result from LAG's complexity as a living historical city. This paper demonstrates the contribution that collaborative work can make between researchers and site managers to identifying, prioritising and proposing solutions to the challenges facing World Heritage Sites.

This paper aims to explore how environmental employment can promote desistance among criminalised children. Research demonstrates that being immersed in and interacting with the natural environment has a positive impact upon well-being and behaviour, including reduced aggressive and violent behaviours. However, how exposure to the natural environment might promote desistance amongst children with persistent criminal involvement is unclear.

This paper examines, through semi-structured interviews and participant observations, the experiences of n = 23 criminalised children aged 16–18 employed in outdoor work at a UK social enterprise.

The findings demonstrate how working in the natural environment can provide a safe space for children, where they can build positive relationships, learn valuable skills and reconnect with the world outside of the high-pressure, conflict-driven spaces in which they typically occupy.

This research highlights the relevance of the setting in which child rehabilitation takes place and the potential role of natural environments in providing places and opportunities which support pro-social identity development and desistance for children.

This study aims to compare the humanitarian supply chains and logistics of two countries in earthquake preparedness by modifying and using a previously established preparedness evaluation framework.

A European flood emergency management system (FEMS) is a seven-dimensional framework to assess a country’s preparedness for flood emergencies. The FEMS framework was modified to apply to earthquakes. Leveraging a multiple explanatory case study approach with data analysis, the authors reconstructed the events of the earthquakes in Pakistan (2005) and Japan (2011) with an applied grading (1–5). Findings were evaluated within the adopted FEMS framework. From a practitioner’s perspective, the framework is applicable and can accelerate support in the field.

Pakistan lacked emergency plans before the 2005 earthquake. In contrast, Japan possessed emergency plans before the disaster, helping minimise casualties. Overall, Japan demonstrated considerably better emergency management effectiveness. However, both countries significantly lacked the distribution of responsibilities among actors.

Practical factors in the humanitarian supply chain are well understood. However, synthesising individual factors into a comprehensive framework is difficult, which the study solves by applying and adopting the FEMS framework to earthquakes. The developed framework allows practitioners a structured baseline for prioritising measures in the field. Furthermore, this study exemplifies the usefulness of cross-hazard research within emergency management and preparedness in a real-world scenario.